Our Passive Solar Home

Saturday, May 21, 2011

It's coming together! The house inside walls are now painted. Next step is the electrical trim (putting in the switches, outlets, coverplates, etc.) and installing the cabinets. The garage/shop has been wired and next step there is to insulate the shop area.

Sunday, May 8, 2011

The ceiling and walls all have drywall now. The drywall crew came through and put the wallboard up in two days. It was quite something to watch them whiz through the rooms, wasting no time and being very efficient of their movements, as if it were choreographed. Next will be taping, then painting.

The garage trusses are mostly on, and plywood is on the exterior walls.

Tuesday, April 19, 2011

Wow! There was alot going on today. Central Valley Plastering has begun putting the stucco base coat on the exterior. Current Concepts has nearly completed the electrical wiring, SAR carpenters were busy inside the hosue and pouring the footing for the garage shop. The Heat Recovery Ventilation ducts are installed and the plumbing is almost complete.

Friday, March 11, 2011

The colored concrete floor was poured today. We want the four inch thick insulated concrete floor to be our main thermal battery in this house. The floor will absorb heat when the floor temperature is cooler than the room temperature and will give off the heat when the room temperature is cooler, helping to stabilize the room temperature. This is one of the key design features of a passive solar house so we wanted a concrete floor that looks good. I think this floor will look great when it is all finished!

Our Faswall house has a finished roof, completed septic tank and drain field and with the concrete floor poured today SAR Construction will soon be able to start building the interior walls!

Greg and Jose from All Weather Roofing putting on shingles and solar tubes.

Gil from SAR Construction compacting the gravel, preparing for the concrete.

Saturday, March 5, 2011

Today the underlayment is going on the roof, to be ready for the shingles on Wednesday. RJ and Son Excavating is busy putting in the drain line from the foundation French drain, grading all the excavated areas, doing a bit more cut and fill on the east side of the house to make an area for the future garage/shop, and creating drain areas along the driveway and down by the transformer pad. With the grading done in front of the house it is easy to visualize the future landscaping. It is fun to watch Bob and Ron work the heavy equipment, skillfully moving heavy rock and yet carefully placing just the right amount of soil where it is needed.

View looking up the driveway at the front "yard" and south side of the house.

Robbie (3rd generation in RJ and Son Excavating) is compacting the drain area near the bottom of the driveway.